


All Kinds Of Magic

by Laclavande



Category: Griefer Belt (Webcomic)
Genre: F/F, M/M, Scott is confused, addie is in love, and robin just wants the popcorn machine to work for once, dallas & harley know everything, jemma can fly, lars is aloof, seong is frustrated, val wants everybody to shut up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-17 12:13:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13076643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laclavande/pseuds/Laclavande
Summary: Backstage there's love blossoming and resentment setting in, but none of that nonsense is allowed in the ring.It's the Griefer Belt circus AU. Welcome to the greatest show on Earth (according to the guy that runs it)...





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas present for Kales.  
> Thanks for a wonderful year of Griefer Belt, as well as that other fun stuff like cons, non-Griefer Belt art, and hanging out in livestreams. It's been swell.

The lights dimmed, the hum of the chattering crowd died down. Excitedly, they awaited the start of the show. Then a spotlight appeared at the centre of the ring and there was the ringmaster, Lars Van Allen himself. He shone in the light from head to toe, wearing a glittering gold suit with tails. Even his shoes sparkled. The crowd cheered his mysterious entrance, the spectacular show had begun.

“Good evening, everyone!” welcomed the ringmaster. He took off his fantastic glittering top hat, his long hair tumbling out from under it. He bowed low and spun quickly on his heel to bow before the whole crowd that he couldn’t see under the bright spotlight.

“Tonight! The Van Allen Showcase will bring you the most _dazzling_ of entertainment. And I don’t just mean my outfit…”

The crowd laughed. It was music to Lars' ears. He placed his hat on his head again, it sat less precariously now, not having to fit all of his hair beneath it.

“Right here you will witness _wondrous_ magic of all kinds. The magic of laughter and joy, the magic of fear and suspense, as well as real, true _magic_. Are you ready to have some fun tonight?!”

The crowd cheered. The ringmaster strutted around the ring, the spotlight following him closely as he moved.

“I said are you ready to have some fun tonight?!” he sang out again, adjusting his near-invisible headset microphone. The crowd cheered louder.

“Welcome one and all to The Van Allen Showcase… The greatest show on Earth!” 

 

**~~~**

  

“She’s incredible. Look at that.”

“Addie, how am I supposed to see anything that’s going on in there when you’ve got your entire head through the hole?”

Seong and Addie were outside the big top with the others, preparing for their act later in the evening. In her yellow tutu, Addie was bent over with her head through the ripped hole in the canvas, watching Jemma, the newest additon to the troupe, perform her trapeze routine.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like she’s really flying,” she said, but Seong had stopped paying attention. He was more focused on making sure all of their props were in order. Addie watched on in amazement. Such strength, such agility, such grace. What Jemma was doing was death-defying, but she moved in the air like she was dancing. An aerobatic ballet. It was beautiful; she was beautiful.

A few moments later and the act was over, the trapeze pulled to the platform as Jemma waved to the crowd upside down. Seconds later and the twins went out into the ring on their unicycles, honking their horns and annoying Lars. Somehow this was one of their most entertaining acts according to local newspaper reviews.

“Wow,” Addie breathed, leaning back from her tiny window once Jemma had finished. She’d be coming around back soon. Seong pivoted and smoothed his yellow cummerbund. 

“Great! It’s over,” he said, “Are you ready to do your job now? Or are you going to take a sudden interest in Dallas and Harley throwing pies at each other?”

Addie just rolled her eyes. Fancy _Seong_ trying to act like _her_ boss. He seemed more antsy than usual tonight.

“What’s up with you?” she asked, bumping her hip against his. Seong swayed a little with the impact but continued counting the props on the table for the hundredth time that night. He ignored his friend. A few moments passed and suddenly he said, rather panicked,

“Where the fuck is the rabbit?” 

The cage was empty. Had it been there before? Had he not noticed? Addie tapped him on the shoulder and he turned. She stood with her feet together like she did when they were in the ring and showed him her hands, moving them in fluid grace. Then she spun on her toes until she was facing him again. Then from behind her back, she revealed the rabbit. She held it out to Seong, petting it. Seong gave an irritated puff and snatched the animal from her.

“Don’t do that,” he snapped, putting the rabbit back in its cage where it would stay until it was their turn to perform.

“Seriously, what is up with you?”

“Nothing,” the magician said indignantly before smoothing his cummerbund once again. Addie figured she’d best leave him alone until after the show. Whatever was going on with him, having him let it out before they were due to perform was probably a bad idea, so she went to go see Jemma instead. Congratulations were definitely in order after what she had just seen.

Nervously, though she wasn’t fully sure as to why, Addie waited behind the curtain that separated the backstage area to the main part of the tent.

“Must be a very tall ladder she has to climb down,” she joked to nobody in particular. Scott was nearest, dressed in nothing but his black and gold harem pants (Lars’ influence). He just looked at her confusedly as he continued stretching, reaching down to touch his toes. He was up next.

Then Jemma emerged from under the curtain, the noise from inside the big top a little louder for a moment before the heavy fabric fell back down.

“Jemma! Congratulations on your stunning performance.”

The gymnast seemed taken aback, she hadn’t even noticed Addie standing there. She smiled with her whole face and Addie couldn’t help but do the same.

“Oh thank you so much,” Jemma said, “You were watching?”

“Yeah. I- I couldn’t take my eyes off of you,” Addie confessed before she could stop herself. Her smile turned into a grimace and she bit her lip. Jemma chuckled lightly and looked at the ground, suddenly bashful. When she looked back up, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and said,

“Well I’ll be watching your act too… Not to put you off,” she added hastily, “I don’t have to watch if you don’t like people watching.”

Now it was Addie’s turn to laugh.

“I think having people watch is kinda the whole point… I’d love it if you watched,” Addie said sincerely, then quickly said, “You should watch Scott too!” 

This caught the attention of the stocky man in question and he glanced down from his focused stare at the out-of-place white patch sewn into the ceiling of the tent.

“He’s, you know, he’s cool,” Addie babbled, “Well, he’s not cool at all actually. You know, ‘cause of the fire… Seeyoulaterbye.” And she walked away back to Seong confidently, though she wasn’t fully sure as to why. Jemma watched her go. The sight of her hurrying away in a tutu was adorable, and Jemma smiled to herself. Addie seems really nice.

 

**~~~**

 

The confetti cannons went off at the perfect time as everybody posed in the centre of the ring. Jemma held on effortlessly to the bar of her trapeze with only one leg and it only swayed a little, suspended much lower to the ground than it had been earlier in the night. Dallas and Harley continued juggling in unison from opposite sides of the group. Scott twirled his fire hoop in the middle of it all, focusing intently on not letting it slip from his arms. If the flaming hoop flew into the crowd or into the twins next to him he’d probably lose his job, and he wasn’t qualified to do much else. Seong and Addie each had a hand on a hip and another in the air in their typical ‘ta-da!’ fashion. Lars stood there doing nothing, yet he somehow still outshone them all in the eyes of the crowd. As the gold confetti rained down, the ringmaster stepped forward.

“Thank you for coming to The Van Allen Showcase tonight!” he shouted into his mic over the sound of applause and ridiculously dramatic music.

“I’ve been Lars Van Allen, these have been our wonderful performers, and you’ve been our amazing crowd. Thank you so much!”

Lars then strutted to the edge of the ring and began the parade, everyone else falling in line behind him. Even Jemma flipped over and dropped to the ground like a cat. They went around the ring, waving to the crowd, or in the case of Scott and the twins, continued to focus on not dropping their props or killing anyone. Then they disappeared behind the curtain and the show was over.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Seong held the neck of his bottle of beer with three lazy fingers as he leaned against the back of the trailer. He was tapping the mostly-empty bottle against his leg absent-mindedly, looking up at the night sky. It was dark above, dotted with stars, but the horizon glowed from the light of the nearby city. Addie came from around the side with her own beer, just opened. Seong stargazing wasn’t an unusual sight, but stargazing with a frown was. Addie sighed and stood beside him,

“So you’re moping now.”

“I’m not moping,” he replied, staring off towards the empty carpark now, averting his eyes from her as much as possible it seemed. 

“Then what do you call this,” Addie said, gesturing wildly at him. The magician didn’t say anything. He brought his beer to his lips and tipped the remaining mouthful down his throat. Then he stood up straight from leaning against the trailer and turned to hurl the bottle at a broken lamp post on the edge of the carpark some distance away. It was a perfect hit, smashing into pieces. Addie was surprised by this outburst, though she didn’t seem it as she only raised her brows before taking a sip herself. Seong settled back, folding his arms over his chest and pouting like a fussy child. They were a bit further away from everyone else, Addie glanced over at the group. It didn’t look like they had noticed what had just happened. Her eyes fell on Jemma. She was talking to Val and Robin. Addie watched as she broke into a giggle, her hand brought up to hover over her mouth, but from where she was standing, Addie could see her toothy smile behind it. She wanted to go over and talk to her, find out what she thought of her and Seong’s act. But then Addie looked back at Seong. He was giving someone the side-eye. Following his line of sight, she saw that it was Lars he was looking at, who had already set his drink down and was starting towards his trailer. It was like this every night. Lars never stayed long for after show drinks. 

“Of course,” Addie tutted and with a sigh said, “What’s he done?”

“It’s really none of your business, Addie,” grumbled Seong, “I mean. My sex life should be _nobody’s_ business but mine.”

“Gross.”

“So don’t ask me about it.”

“I didn’t.”

“You know I love you and I trust you, but you gotta respect my privacy.”

She should’ve known it would be about Lars. The two were besotted with each other, or at least they had been. It was a very casual thing, Seong had told her, and it was something everyone knew about, even cracked jokes about. Though seeing the way he was acting, it was obvious that he had become attached. If it was just to whatever arrangement they had or Lars himself, even Addie couldn’t tell. She shouldn’t care, didn’t want to, but Seong was her partner. They were a team. If his head wasn’t on straight, especially in the ring, they’d both suffer for it.

Addie took another drink and took a step closer.

“Was it you or him?” she asked, holding her beer up with a pointed finger.

“It’s none-”

“Of my business, I know. But you’re hurting, just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m not _hurting_ ,” Seong scoffed, an air of amusement lilting his voice,“I’m just… Frustrated.”

Addie frowned, confused.

“Frustrated? Frustrated with what? Seong, be straight with me.”

Seong flicked his eyes to her, the slightest suggestion of a smile tugging at his cheeks. Once she noticed, Addie rolled her eyes, completely unamused by his little joke.

“If I’m telling you everything, I’m gonna need another drink first,” he said. Addie stepped aside, saying,

“By all means.”

After popping the cap on another bottle, Seong took a deep breath and started chugging the beer. He started struggling almost immediately but kept going. Addie watched on in disgust and so did the others, watching on from within their own conversations. When the bottle was empty, Seong was gasping, and then he started belching.

“You obviously didn’t think this through did you?” Addie noted as Seong continued burping loudly.

“Lars and I…” he started, then all in one breath, said, “We haven’t had sex in forever and he’s barely talking to me and I must’ve done something wrong but I don’t wanna bring it up to him because he’ll think I’m an idiot and what if he fires me for talking out of turn? It _could_ happen I don’t know how pissed off he is. He’s so hard to read you know?” 

“Seong, breathe… So basically you’re worried you offended Lars?”

Seong shrugged.

“And you’re super horny.”

Seong shrugged again and nodded.

Hiding on the roof of one of the trailers, Dallas and Harley lay on their bellies and sipped their sodas through striped straws. They giggled to themselves as they watched Seong slam his empty beer bottle on the table and walk away, leaving Addie to sigh to herself and join the rest of the troupe.

“Ah this is fun,” said Harley.

“It’ll be even more fun at the party next week,” Dallas replied and the siblings grinned at each other.

 

**~~~**

 

“How’s the shoulder by the way?” Robin asked Jemma. They and Addie and Val were the last ones still up. It was getting late, very late, but they stayed outside, their un-voiced excuse that they were celebrating Jemma’s first real show.

“Oh, it’s much better!” The gymnast replied, “Thanks for the massage.”

“Oh it’s a pleasure,” Robin purred, his sleaziness taking over his professionalism for a moment before he straightened and said, “And it’s just my job. _One_ of my jobs.”

Val lifted her drink and behind the glass said,

“Don’t make it sound like you do more than you actually do.”

“It’s more than _some_ people around here.”

“Um, I have like _four_ jobs,” she countered, then gestured at her friends as she said, “Jemma does three different acts, all of which are physically demanding, and Addie does all the accounts on top _her_ act. So tell us again how hard it is to work the popcorn machine.”

Addie and Jemma laughed and Robin’s face fell as Val hit a nerve. He’d been going on about that damn machine for weeks.

“It’s only hard because it’s fucking broken!” he blurted out, “I keep saying we need a new one but Addie says it’s not in the budget!”

“It’s not in the budget,” Addie said ever so simply as she took a sip of her drink. Jemma broke out into tipsy giggles at this and Addie couldn’t stop smiling either.


	3. Chapter 3

In a flash, the shimmering gold hat was tossed high into the air and Lars jogged backwards towards the big blue curtain at the back of the tent. Before the hat even started to fall back down, it was snatched from the air. Jemma came in out of nowhere on her trapeze, upside down, hanging from the bar by her knees. On her shoulders were tattoos of roses, partly hidden by the straps of her leotard. 

There was a mix of gasps and wows from the crowd. While still swinging and still upside down, she pulled the hat onto her own head before counter-swinging her body to sit upright on the bar. She extended her muscular arms in a ‘ta-da!’ pose and the crowd cheered once more. But her act wasn’t over yet. She stood up and held onto the wires, and she started to swing, gaining momentum. While she was occupied with this, the ringmaster came back out in a completely different outfit. Still obnoxiously glittery, but this time a deep blue colour.

“Watch her fly!” he proclaimed, “Watch her defy gravity and all conventions of human agility! It’s the fantastic, the acrobatic—Jemnastica!”

The arch of Jemma’s swings was big now. Suddenly, she let her feet slip from the bar and looked like she was falling, but she only fell far enough to take hold of the bar. Then she began her daring routine, all while still wearing the sparkly top hat (thanks to the magic of magnetic hair clips). She went over, she went under, she performed audacious feats that amazed the crowd. She seemed so undaunted by the height. It was like the ringmaster had said; she was flying.

Lars stared up with his own practiced and exaggerated expression of amazement. Finally, Jemma finished her routine how it began - she flipped over to hang by her knees and pulled off the top hat. Her trapeze was pulled to the platform and she waved goodbye to the crowd upside down. Before she disappeared into the dark outer edges of the big top, she chucked the hat away from her. It floated down and Lars dramatically ran around like a headless chicken while a drumroll sounded, his arms outstretched to catch it. He snatched it from the air and without looking, put it down upon his head, top side down. The crowd began to laugh, but he continued to pull it down by the brim until it popped inside out. It was blue to match his new suit.

“Ta-da!” he trilled.

 

**~~~**

 

Another day, another show in the bag. Everyone was winding down, including Lars, who slumped into his plump antique chair in his private dressing room, the brim of his hat tipped over his eyes.

“We’re gonna need to have a little talk about workshopping,” Addie continued as she stood over him, “As in, you shouldn’t really be doing it inside the ring.”

Lars sighed beneath the hat and said,

“There’s a lot of things that aren’t allowed in the ring. Children, fighting, romance. But exploring new ideas…? That’s not on the list.”

“At least agree that the name ‘Jemnastica’ does not work.”

Lars sucked his gums for a moment in what Addie supposed was contemplation, then he sprang up from the chair with a newfound energy.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said to Addie, tilting his chin upwards to look at her from under the brim of his hat instead of simply adjusting it. And he sashayed out of the room, moving the sheer purple curtain that separated it from the rest of the backstage area in one swift motion. 

“Lars!” Addie called after him.

“Later!” He said without turning around. Addie watched from the doorframe as he went straight over to Scott, who had just finished extinguishing the flames on his hoop. She looked away, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as soon as Lars grabbed him from behind. In that moment, her rolling eyes fell on her partner. Seong was frozen, a sword hovering over the case it belonged to as he stared at the couple. The sight was really bothering him, much more than herself so it seemed. Addie let out a sharp sigh before walking over. When Seong noticed her approach, he shook himself out of it and resumed his work like nothing had happened.

“You know if you want a threesome with them, all you gotta do is ask,” Addie joked. The sword Seong had just pulled from the slit in the box next to him clattered on the ground noisily.

“What’re you talking about?” he said indignantly as he reached to pick up the prop, “That- that’s an awful idea. No.”

“Alright. It’s just that you’ve been staring at Scott and Lars for a while now…”

The same sword clattered to the ground again, but Seong picked it up before it made much noise. He finally stood up after crouching on the ground, staring at his boss and that pyromaniac through the table legs. They had started kissing, and Lars was obviously whispering in Scott’s ear.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Seong as he slid the sword into its place. Addie was shocked,

“Tell you what? About Lars and Scott?”

Addie stood next to him and threw her arms up to gesture wildly at the PDA in front of them.

“It’s not exactly a secret!” she laughed, perhaps a little too loud, “I thought you knew!”

Seong had been so down lately, and after their conversation the other night, Addie had figured it was because of the Ringmaster’s new favourite, but he was too busy sulking over Lars to realise that he even had a new favourite.

“I know now, and everything’s fine,” he said, and closed the lid on the case. He carried it over to the shelves of props behind them and put it away. Addie looked over her shoulder at Lars and Scott. Scott had him by the hand and they were leaving the tent. She turned back to see Seong wheeling the now sword-less box into its space. Suddenly, he was different. He seemed more normal than he had in a while.

Once again, Dallas and Harley were nearby, snacking on leftover candy floss on the other side of the stripy canvas in the grass. 

“Aw poor thing,” said Dallas before placing a piece of the pink sugar on their tongue and letting it dissolve.

“I can’t believe it took him this long to notice!” Their twin replied.

“More than two weeks,” said Dallas, “Pay up, sib.”

 

**~~~**

 

His eyes were closed, a toned arm resting above his head and another on his stomach. Lars wasn’t tired. He sat up close to Scott on his knees as he just watched him, waiting for him to do something, anything. Only a few seconds passed before he got bored and he just leaned down, inspecting the faint freckles that dotted Scott’s face. A busy constellation bridging across his nose. With his warm breath hitting his face, for a moment Lars wondered if Scott had fallen asleep, and how heavy a sleeper he was. Could he fetch a marker and connect the dots on Scott’s face without him waking? Lars was almost about to try when Scott stirred. He wasn’t asleep.

“Just resting my eyes,” he muttered. But he sighed and his eyes did not open. Lars took the opportunity to drag his own eyes over his body once again and he smiled contentedly to himself. Then he was back to looking at Scott’s face and those faint freckles. He stretched his legs out and settled down next to him on his side, a hand out to touch the tantalisingly fluffy hair of the man next to him. Delicately, he touched his fingers to the top. This part was almost crunchy with hairspray, especially the front. Then he moved to the underside, where blond wisps had come out of place after the events of the evening (Scott’s act is quite intense). Lars put his hand through Scott’s hair, revelling both in the soft sensation and at disturbing Scott, who opened one eye to look at him, the other squeezed shut. Ignoring the eye, Lars continued to play with Scott’s hair. He couldn’t run his fingers through his own hair like this, it was much too long. It was then that Lars noticed something, a tinge of colour at the base of Scott’s pale hair.

“Scott…” he said, inspecting the roots closer, “Are you ginger!?”

“Yeah,” was all Scott answered. Lars’ face lit up and he bounced on the bed, jostling Scott who was now very awake.

“You should go full ginger!” Lars said, excitedly patting Scott’s bare chest. Scott just looked up at him, squinting. 

“You’re a fire performer. If you had flaming red hair it would add a whole new great element to your act!”

Self-consciously, Scott put his own hands to his hair to fix it, flatten it. 

“It’s not flaming red. Naturally, it’s just sort of a dull orange,” he said with a shrug.

“But you see what I mean, right?”

“I guess so.”

“You should do it,” decided Lars, “You should go natural. Flaming red, dull orange, it doesn’t matter- it’ll look amazing.”

And he took Scott’s blushing freckled face and kissed him. Scott blushed all the more.


End file.
